Cameras in the delivery room – pictures worth a thousand… lawsuits?

Cameras in the delivery room – pictures worth a thousand… lawsuits?It’s a right of passage into parenthood—as a mom-to-be screams in agony through the pains of labor, a dad-to-be, or grandfather-to-be, runs around the delivery room of a hospital with a camera, filming and photographing the arrival of a newborn child. If several hospitals across the country have their ways the iconic scenes from the delivery room will vanish forever, as cameras and cell phones are being banned during birth. Doctors and nurses, who don’t have a desire to make cameo appearances on a Youtube video, and hospital administrations that are wary of delivery room videos turning into evidence during malpractice suits, are driving the policy change. One lawsuit from 2007, that involved a baby born at the University of Illinois with shoulder complications, used video taken by the father in the delivery room as part of the case evidence. Parents aren’t happy about the restrictions put on them on what should be their happiest day and hospitals are fearful of all of the unintended consequences of those delivery room movies—is there a compromise to be found?